Refrigeration



March 1, 1938. s. w. E. ANDERSSON 2,109,607

REFRIGERATION -Filed Jan. 25, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 1 a/awMATTORNFY March 1, 1938. s. w. E. ANDERSSON I 2,109,607

REFRIGERATION Filed Jan. 25, 1.936

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \NVENTOR MMW A4L% I ORN EY Patented Mai, 1932 'UNITEDS'lATE S PATE i mist-322mm Application January 23. 1936,

My invention relates to refrigeration and more ularly to regulation ofrefrigeration apparatus responsive to temperature.

object of my invention to provide an an 6 improvedarrangement fortransmission of ther I mostatic impul an im 1 sive to rise in t Iprovide a 16 load spring, a 7 ing the tension of the load spring, andmeans between such ad- Justment means and the thermostat and further Vproved arrangement for hydraulic I impulse direction is reversed.

-My invention, together with the obiectsand advantages thereof, will bemore fully underspeciflcation, and of which:

away, of a refrigerator embodying the inven- 35 Jig. 2 is a detail view,with parts shown in secmm;- of a regulator forithe refrigerator shownFig. 1; and r 1'18. 3 is a detail view,

trating a modification 01- 40 tor shown in Fig. 2'.

partly in section, ll r' a portion o1 the regula- Referring 'to Fig. 1,I'have illustrated the in-' H and the other e apparatus including agenerator I 5 of impulse from a thermostat to a is a side elevation,with parts broken N OFFICE Ind.,

Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation 1 ware Serial No. 60,413 (01. 62-5)inert gas is circulated be orator and absorber.

e burner control device, generally indicated by the reference numeralI8, is housed in a casing "which be formedas part or-the buml is arrangthe d! cover portion is arranged in fpansible member, the valve needleturning the bushing 52 the tension of the spring 48 may normally beadjusted.

It will now be understood that increasing the tension on the load spring48 increases the pressure on liquid in the chamber 48, and that thispressure is transmitted by the liquid to the diaagm 31 in thethermostatic device IS. The effect is the same as though the load'springand its adjustment were applied directly to the diaphragm 31 asillustrated in the modification of the diaphragm 31, and a chamber 39 onthe other side of the diaphragm. In chamber 38 is located an expansiblecartridge 40 containing a suitable expansible fluid such as propane,methyl One end oi the cartridge e diaphragm 31 so that the latter isflexed outwardly with respect to chamber 38 upon expansion of the car-10 The other end of the cartridge 40 is arranged so that it maybebrought into good thermal contact with the evaporator 14. This haccomplished in the embodiment illustrated by extending this end of thecartridge 40 through 5 an opening in the casing 35 and sealing the jointthus made. The casing 351 is formed so that the protruding end of thecartridge 40 may be held in thermal contact with the evaporator M bymeans of a retaining nut 41 threaded onto hollow b 42 On the Wall Of hev i o described to maintain a desired constant tem- 20 M. The chamber 38in the thermostatic device perature of the cooling element N. If thistem- IQ i nn d y m n f a capillary u 4 perature is below the freezingpoint of water, the to the expansible member 30 of the control devicecgoling l t is m become v d with It T p n i m mb r 0, he capillary t bfrost due to condensation and freezing thereon 2'5 and the chamber 38constitute a fillld of water out of the air circulating in thereham r hvi n fl l Wall p o formed frigerator storage comparment H. For reasons yh ph m 31 n eilfither flexible Wall of sanitation and thermal efficiencyit is desirable portion formed by the exp n ibl m m r 3 tointermittently remove this frost. This may This fluid tight chamber isfilled with a suitable be done by temporarily increasing the temperaqture of the cooling element l4. It is desirable 30 It'wm now be Pli thatexpansion of that instigation of such defrosting be at the willthermostat cartridge upon incr se in of the user of the refrigerator,but it is inconvenperature of the cooling element tends lent to returnthe refrigerator to normal over-- crease the volume of the abovedescribed chamn after degroshng has m h h d, I her formed by the liquidcontaining mem therefore provide meansfor obtaining an abnor- 85 andthat this permits contraction of the exm djustm nt of the load spring aso t t th D h waf 80 t a the needle Valve 15 may effect thereof on thethermostatic cartridge 4| p u h action f spring 33 to p will causeoperation of the burner l1 atarate greater flow of gas to the burner.Contraction t, shows the temperature 01 the coohng it) 01 the cartridge40 p decree-Se in temperature ment l4 to rise. 1 also include means fordetain- 40 of the cooling element l4 tends to decrease th mg t abnormaldjustment in operation until volume of the hydraulic system, causin exphabnormal pressure is set up by the thermostatic sion of the wafer 30against the action of spring cartridge 40 against th med spring 43 uponin- 33 to move the needle valve 25 toward its closed crease intemperature or the cooling element 14, 45 position and reduce the flowof gas to the burner. whereupon the abnormal ustm t is auto- 45 Tadjusting device 20 mounted on the front matically returned to itsineflective position. plate 2| of the cooling element, or any other deharrangement, is the same in Figs. 2 an sired place inside or outside therefrigerator, com- The load Spring retaining disc i provided with prisesa casing 44 having a fl x l Wall Portion a V-shaped edge and there aremounted on the so formed by a flexible bellows 45. The chamber 46 b hing53 one or more pairs or spring clips 51 50 within the casing 44 isconnected by means of a which extend mm operative engagemen pill ry tube"to th cham 39 011 the tthe edge 0! the spring retaining disc 50 so thatside of the diaphragm 31in the thermostatic dewhen e disc is movedinwardly y nna y vice IS. The chambers 39 and 46 and the capilor th wiforcing it past the spring clips 1 lary tube 41 constitute a fluid tightchamber it is prevented by the clips from returning to its 55 which isalso fill d with a Suitable 11 normal position abutting the inner end ofthe Kerosene or other suitable oil may be used. normal adjusting bushing52 until the tension fl x ble wall p rtion formed by the bellows of theload spring 43 is sufllciently augmented by loaded inwardly y a l Springwhich is the increasing pressure of the thermostatic car- '00 rangedbetween a boss 48 n h n p g 0f tridge 40 upon abnormal rise intemperature of M the bellows 45 and a spring retaining disc 58. Thelatter is secured on the end of a rod 5i which is slidable in a bushing52. The latter is threaded d bushing 53 which is in t 05 threaded into acover plate 54 on the casing 4 over the bellows '45. The bushing 53 isprovid with a lock nut 55 so that this bushing may be suitably adiustedfor the purpose hereinafter described and then secured in place bytightening into a secon outwardly through the bushing 53. The inner endof the bushing 52 normally provides an abutment for the spring retainingdisc 5c so that by it will be seen that the hydraulic system between theload spring 48 and the diaphragm 31 has been omitted. The other partsbeing the same as in Fig. 2 are identified by the same referencecharacters.

By turning the normal adjusting knob 56, the effect of the load spring48 on the thermostatic cartridge 40 may be adjusted so that the burnerl1 will be regulated in the manner previously the cooling element l4.The outer end of the rod 5| is provided with a suitable head 5! by whichthe rod may be pushed inwardly to abnormally displace the springretaining disc 50 when it is desired to instigate defrosting.

The position of the spring clips 51 may be adjusted by turning thebushing 53 to which they are attached, thereby varying the forcenecessary to return the spring retaining disc 50 past the clips andtherefore the temperature to which the cooling element 14 will risebefore automatically returning to normal operation.

It will be understood that various changes and modifications may be madewithin the scope of the invention as indicated in the following claims.

What is claimed is: 1. A refrigerator including a cooling element, a

generator, a gas burner for heating said gener-.

and filled with liquid having a negligible tem-' perature coeflicient ofexpansion, and said cartridge being arranged in thermal conductiverelation with said cooling element.

2. A refrigerator including a cooling element, a generator, a heater forsaid generator, a device for regulating said heater responsive totemperature of said cooling element and including members forming afluid tight chamberhaving a plurality of flexible wall portions, anexpansible cartridge containing an expansible fluid located in saidchamber and arranged 'to flex one of said wall portions outwardly andinwardly upon expansion and contraction respectively, another of saidwall portions being operatively associated with said heater, .saidcartridge being arranged in thermal conductive relation with saidcooling element, and said chamber being filled with a liquid having anegligible temperature coeflicient of expansion, whereby expansion ofsaid cartrige upon increase in temperature of said cooling elementcauses inward fiexure of said second wall 7 portion.

5 3. A refrigerator including a cooling' element, a generator, a heaterfor said generator, and a device for regulating said heater responsiveto temperature of said cooling element including an expansible fluidthermostat operative responsive to temperature of said cooling element,and a liquid filled member for hydraulic transmission of impulse fromsaid thermostat to said heater and constructed and arranged so thatexpansion and contraction of said thermostat tends to cause increase anddecrease respectively in volume of said member.

4. A device for regulating operation of a refrigerator responsivetotemperature including a thermostat and a liquid filled member forhydraulically transmitting impulses of said thermostat and constructedand arranged so that expansion and contraction of said thermostat uponchange in temperature tends to respectively increase and decrease thevolume of said member.

5. A refrigerator including a cooling element, a generator, a gas burnerfor heating said generator, a thermostat for regulating said gas burn-'er responsive to temperature of said cooling element, and a device foradjusting said thermostat including a casing having a flexible wallportion operatively associated with said thermostat, a second casinghaving a flexible wall portion, a capillary tube connecting said casingsand forming therewith a fluid tight chamber, said chamber being filledwith a liquid having a negligible temperature coeflicient of expansion,a spring arranged to exert force inward on'said second wall portion,means for normally adjusting the tension of said spring, and means foradjusting said spring to an abnormal tension and automatically operativeto relieve such abnormal tension upon abnormal operation of saidthermostat.

6. A refrigerator including a cooling element, a generator, a heater forsaid generator, a thermostat for regulating said heater responsive totemperature of said cooling element, and a device for adjusting saidthermostat including a member filled with liquid and having a pluralityof flexible wall portions, one of said .wall portions being operativelyassociated with said thermostat,

means for exerting force'inward on another of said wall portions andnormally adjustable to exert a desired inward force, and means operableto exert an abnormal force inward on said second wall portion andautomatically operative to relieve such abnormal force upon abnormaloperation of said thermostat.

7. In a refrigerator, a cooling element, a thermostat for regulatingoperation of the refrigerator responsive to temperature of said coolingelement, and a device for adjusting said thermostat including ahydraulic transmission member, means normally adjustable to vary thepressure on liquid in said member, and means operable to exert anabnormal pressure on liquid in said member and automatically operativeto relieve such abnormal pressure upon abnormal operation of saidthermostat. Y

8. In a refrigerator having a cooling element anda thermostat forcontrolling operation of the refrigerator responsive to temperature ofthe cooling element, a load spring for said thermostat, normal adjustingmeans for varying the tension of said load spring, and auxiliary meansoperable to exert an abnormal tension on said load spring and includinga spring clip for detaining said auxiliary means inits operativeposition and adapted to be automatcally displaced upon abnormaloperation of said thermostat to relieve said abnormal tension.

9. In a refrigerator having a cooling element and a thermostat forcontrolling operation of the refrigerator responsive to temperature ofthe cooling element, a load spring for said thermostat, normal adjustingmeans for varying the tension of said load spring, and auxiliary meansoperable to exert an abnormal tension on said load spring and includingmeans for detaining said auxiliary means in its operative position andadapted to be automatically displaced upon abnormal operation of saidthermostat to relieve said abnormal te sion. 5

SNEN W. E. ANDERSSONV

